Google Launches Better Chromebook
Hopes to democratise access with a £229 “computer for everyone”
On Thursday, Google has unveiled the latest model in its Chromebook range. Made by Samsung, the cloud-friendly device costs just $249 in the US or £229 in the UK. Thanks to this low price point, Google advertises the new Chromebook as the “computer for everyone”.
It is both thinner and lighter than the previous models, and is available to pre-order on Amazon and PC World. Next week, the device will go on sale and will appear in over 30 ‘bricks and mortar’ PC World and Currys stores in the UK.
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Google says that the new ultraportable will be perfect for families, as a second or third computer. “Many people use the Chromebook today as the perfect additional computer for their home. For families, it’s easy to use and share: for kids doing homework on the couch, parents catching up on emails at the kitchen counter and grandparents staying connected on video chat,” wrote Sundar Pichai, SVP of Chrome and Apps.
“There’s no need to worry about security updates and maintenance is easy; all you need to do is charge the battery. It just works,” she added, hijacking the traditional Apple mantra.
Google is also taking steps to make Chromebooks appealing to the enterprise market, advertising their simple management, cloud integration and advanced security features.
The company has recently launched a Chromebook rental programme in the US. For just $30 (£18.86) a month on a rolling contract, businesses can quickly supply workers with laptops and return them when they are not needed.
According to Google, the new Chromebook is one of the lightest laptops on the market. It weighs 2.5 pounds, is a mere 0.8 inches thick and offers over 6 hours of battery life for the typical user. Its 16GB SSD hard drive can be considered quite small, but the laptop comes with 100 GB of free storage on Google Drive. The use of SSD, lack of any optical drive and passive cooling means it is extremely quiet.
Naturally, the new laptop runs Google’s Chrome OS, which allows it to boot up in less than 10 seconds and resume operation instantly. It has a 11.6-inch LED display (1366×768), comes with 2GB of DDR3 RAM and is powered by Samsung’s own Exynos 5250 processor.
Like all the previous models, Chromebook will leave the factory loaded with cloud apps such as Gmail, Maps, YouTube, Google Play and Google+ Hangouts.
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